Waiting on the Lord

"If I am to wait on the Lord, I want to be the Lord's while I wait."

I heard this awesome summary of Isaiah 40:28-31today and had to share it. We had a congregational meeting with my church this morning to hear updates on our search for a new senior pastor. The search has been going on for a long time and we as a church have learned to wait actively. I can do this more easily as part of my church family, but have more difficulty applying it to the things in my life.
I've seen my impatience rear its ugly head in a few different facets of my life. Patience is truly a spiritual gift and not something I can just drum up in my own strength.

• I've been impatient in my career goals, wanting to do everything now.
• I've been impatient in my personal life with friends who are in different life stages and feeling alienated by them.
• I've been impatient in my walk with God and reconciling that I'm 28 and didn't picture myself still single and living with roommates. 
• I've been impatient in the places I serve and wanting to start too many things that we can't finish. 

Now with each of these things, particularly in the last 48 hours, I've begun to notice that God has not let them go unnoticed. He still has my back and continues to encourage me in unexpected ways. He is still sovereign and has good plans for me, and for you.

Coffee Lovers? Drink Coffee that does Good :)

I drink coffee every morning. Usually my roommate gets to the kitchen first and brews our coffee. I add creamer in my travel mug and head into my daily commute with a hot cup that helps me ease into my day.
When I buy coffee, I usually go for one that's fairly traded and organic. This is a recent development in the last couple years, as I've grown in my awareness of the kind of consumer I want to be. My roommate usually shops at Whole Foods, so that's the kind of coffee we drink daily.
I ran across this blog post and wanted to pass it on to anyone else whose day isn't complete without some coffee and a cool way to give back without changing much :)
Global Hope Network International - Drink Good Coffee? - this month and next if you buy coffee from Coffee Without Borders, $2 will go back to this great organization to give more access to clean water to people in rural India. I'm going to order mine today and would encourage you to try it out too!
 Order here: http://www.coffeewithoutborders.com/

Once Upon a Time

I love this new show on ABC - Once Upon a Time

• If anyone knows me, they know I'd prefer a drama or sitcom over all the reality TV that shows up on broadcast (and I don't have cable). So this show is already my kind of thing. 
• I love Jennifer Goodwin and want to claim her as my doopleganger. :) It's also great that she plays this Snow White whose back story is a bit more empowered than a damsel in distress. 
• I like adding meaning to things and was hooked by something that is said at the beginning of every episode. 

The show is set in Storybrooke Maine a small American town with no happy endings. The 10 year old the story centers around says in the pilot everyone in the town has "forgotten who they are." While that frames the story and helps the plot move forward, I am taken aback by how true that statement may be for all of us.

I don't believe we are all fairy tale characters. That's not where I'm going.What may be worth considering is that we have forgotten who we are because we've forgotten whose we are. One of the best books I've ever read is Victory Over the Darkness by Neil Anderson. In it, he reflects on what was lost for all future mankind after the fall in the Garden. Succinctly put, we were:

1. Accepted by God unconditionally and got to walk around naked
2. Secure in who we are because we could walk and talk with God
3. Significant to God and to each other (there were only 2 people).

The reality we live in now, is that we live in a fallen world (with some similarities to Storybrooke) and are seeking to fill these voids - we fear rejection (because we lost the feeling of being full accepted); act out of insecurity, seeking others approval and putting others down; and are constantly striving to make a contribution where we feel known or recognized as having value.

In Once Upon a Time, the characters slowly begin to make choices that reveal who they were meant to be. The plot hooks me each week as they unravel the back story and intertwine it with current events in Storybrooke. I can't help but become like a kid rooting for the heroine to win over the wicked witch. I grieve when the villain gets the upper hand and never stop believing that good will win out.

With my faith, I hold to the same values with one significant difference. Good has already won through Jesus Christ.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. " 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther_king_jr.html#ixzz1jgKjPTya  

Slow Down, but Don't Give Up

 I want to make a difference.

I am a privileged White American, rich by most world standards.
As a Christian I want to advocate for justice worldwide because all people matter to God.

Recently I was stopped in these thoughts by 2 items.
1. The creator of TOMS wrote a book. I ran across this video while adding his book to my Pintrest page. I will read this book before I'm 30 as part of my "30 before I'm 30" goals.

2. This blog post from ACT:S entitled You Were Not Built to Save this World.

So I'm taking a deep breath. I am also beginning to read the Good and Beautiful God as part of my small group and his first challenge to us was to get more rest because of how intertwined our souls are with our bodies.  I want to be poured out and used up by a God worthy of all praise, so I want to be sure I'm filling myself with good things, not focusing on the productivity of those things or how quickly I can absorb all the things I could do. I need to give room to focus on which of those "good things" God would have me do. Good night.

My Vision Board

A picture is worth a thousand words. This is my vision board from Dec. 2011. It was created at a workshop I attended. As a disclaimer, I do not endorse the Secret, and didn't approach this Vision Board as my message to the universe. Instead, after 2 days of activities designed to be introspective and consider all the ways I am uniquely gifted, I developed this as a visual representation of my goals, personality, and the ways I pray to used for God's glory. It reminds me of my values and how I might contribute positively. I could say a lot more about it, but for now just enjoy and comment or ask me about it sometime. It was really fun, therapeutic, eye-opening, and meaningful.
I pray that 2012 be a year you too can reflect on why you're here and what you're doing with your gifts.